Teen caught with eight grams of cocaine walks free after claiming it’s for ‘personal use’ – as we expose drug abuse soft justice across the UK

COKE users caught with the Class A drug are clogging up courts but walking free after saying it’s for ‘personal use’, a Sun Online investigation reveals.

The number of people brought before magistrates lays bare just how common cocaine use is in Britain today.

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Taran Sodhi, 18, was caught with eight bags of cocaine and a knife but walked free from Bexley Magistrates CourtCredit: Jamie Lorriman

More than 24,000 people were convicted of possession of cocaine in England and Wales between 2013 and last year - but fewer than 1,000 were sent down.

Last year alone 3,824 were convicted but just 206 faced immediate custody. That's just five per cent.

And of the 13 users The Sun Online saw over two days in courts in Birmingham, Manchester and London, NONE were sent to prison. That included an 18-year-old caught with EIGHT individual wraps of coke.

On paper, the maximum sentence for possession of cocaine is seven years inside and an unlimited fine.

But a defence lawyer who got a 51-year-old ‘recreational user’ caught with coke in Yardley Wood, Birmingham, off with a slap on the wrist, admitted he hasn’t seen anyone sent to prison for possession “for at least ten years”.

The mantra ‘it was for personal use’ has become almost a defence

Anthony Barraclough

The Sun has launched its End Of The Line campaign to raise awareness of the devastating impact even casual cocaine use can have on mental health. Doctors have warned a flood of cheap and potent cocaine into the UK is fuelling suicide rates.

More than one in ten British adults have tried cocaine, double the EU average, and use among young people is surging, with 20 per cent of 16 – 24-year-olds taking it in the last year.

Have you or your family been affected by cocaine? Tell us your story by emailing endoftheline@thesun.co.uk

Cocaine use has doubled in Britain in the last five years, with more than a million Brits putting their lives on the line by using it in the last year.

But courts seem to be doing little to stem the tide of 'casual' coke users.

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Even Taran Sodhi, who was caught with eight individual ‘wraps’ of coke – along with ten bags of cannabis and a knife – outside Greenwich University, managed to walk free with a suspended sentence.

The 18-year-old’s excuse was simply: 'It was for personal use’.

His lawyer told Bexley Magistrates Court in South London: “At that time this was one night’s use. He was intending to use them at a party.”

The self-professed ‘addict’ yawned in the dock as he waited to be sentenced.

SOFT PUNISHMENT

The ‘punishment’ Sodhi was hit with was £200 in costs and a course to help him deal with ‘peer pressure’.

Even his explanation for having a knife – so often the weapon of choice for young drug gang members waging bloody war on the streets of the capital – was accepted by the magistrates.

He said he had bought it on holiday and ‘forgotten’ he’d left it in his jacket.

End Of The Line

Cocaine use is reaching epidemic levels in Britain, with the UK branded the ‘Coke capital’ of Europe.

More than one in ten British adults are believed to have tried it, and with young people the numbers are even worse.

A staggering one in five 16 – 24-year-olds have taken cocaine in the last year.

That’s why The Sun has launched its End Of The Line campaign, calling for more awareness around the drug.

Cocaine use can cause mental health problems such as anxiety and paranoia, while doctors have linked the rise in cheap, potent coke to an increase in suicide rates.

People from all walks of life, from builders and labourers to celebrities like Jeremy McConnell – who is backing our campaign – have fallen foul of its lure.

It’s an issue which is sweeping the UK and, unless its tackled now, means a mental health crisis is imminent.

Time and time again, our reporters watched the defendants say their cocaine - controlled by gangs linked to gun running and human trafficking - was for ‘personal use’.

Nine men and women aged from 18 to 56 were due before magistrates in one morning alone in Manchester.

One of them, 43-year-old Darren Jepson, was caught with two wraps of crack cocaine while begging on the streets with a sign saying: “Please can you help. It’s not for drugs.”

Pals Robert Tarrrant, 36, and Barry Kittle, 34, both of Stoke, were each caught in Manchester on May 18 with a bag of cocaine.

They both pleaded guilty to a charge of possession. Tarrant was fined £100 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £30 victim surcharge, while Kittle was given a £100 fine, £85 costs and a £35 victim surcharge.

It was a similar story in Birmingham. Abid Farooq was found with a stash of coke when a van was pulled over in the Kings Heath part of the city on April 1.

He described himself as a 'recreational user' and was handed a £200 fine and told to pay £215 in court costs.

'IT'S EITHER LEGAL OR ILLEGAL'

These soft sentences are no surprise to Anthony Barraclough, who was the long-term advocate of cocaine baron Curtis Warren, the dealer who made the Sunday Times Rich List through his £300m empire.

Barraclough told The Sun Online: “The mantra ‘it was for personal use’ has become almost a defence - even in the eyes of the police and the occasional senior politician.

“Possession of cocaine is a crime and users and possessors are criminals - even though their amounts are only a nostril-full, as opposed to a sports bag full.

“It’s either legal or illegal - there is no halfway.”

Khizar Hyatt, from Greens Solicitors in Birmingham, who represented Abid Farooq, 51, caught with a wrap of cocaine in Birmingham, admitted the courts were brimming with coke users – many of them repeat offenders.

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He said: “Cocaine is stereotyped as a rich man’s party drug but it is a class A controlled drug for a reason.

“I’ve defended someone who committed murder while high on cocaine.

“I think for all drugs in this country there’s quite a lenient approach. I don’t necessarily think the courts are looking at the wider impact of drugs in society.”

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, told the Sun Online: "Day in, day out police officers up and down the country are stopping and searching suspects, filing reports, making arrests and seizing drugs before charging people with offences in a bid to stem the tidal wave of crime and criminality that blights communities.

"Magistrates and judges are then given the chance to impose sentences to reflect the seriousness of the crimes.

POLICE 'DEEPLY FRUSTRATED'

"I understand the complexities surrounding sentencing guidelines, but it can be deeply frustrating for our hard-working members to see those who break the law given nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

"A non-custodial sentence is not a deterrent and can lead to officers having to deal with repeat offenders who are continuously going round the criminal justice system revolving door.

"I believe quite firmly in rehabilitation of offenders if appropriate, and in restorative justice. And I believe people – particularly first time offenders – should be given a chance as people do make mistakes.

"But I also believe in justice, and for some that must mean a custodial sentence."

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Abid Farooq was freed by Birmingham Magistrates' Court after saying the wrap he was caught with was for personal useCredit: SWNS:South West News Service

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Darren Jepson was caught with crack cocaine while begging with a sign saying 'its not for drugs'Credit: �AndyKelvin / Kelvin Media

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Robert Tarrant, who was caught with a wrap of coke but let off with a fineCredit: �AndyKelvin / Kelvin Media

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